But since then, we’ve been restricted to just a handful of sightings of the 16-time world champion. Much of his work has been spent endorsing his daughter—Charlotte—on NXT, with his solitary main roster appearance coming a few weeks back on Raw when he offered his endorsement to The Shield.

But there’s good reason behind this sparing use of one of the business’ all-time greats.

WWE was in fact scheduling Flair for a series of medical tests—a logical move for an employee of 65—prior to bringing him back full-time. And as reported by PWInsider (via Marc Middleton of Wrestling Inc), the results of said tests are in:

We noted before that Ric Flair finally went to Pittsburgh for the medical tests that are required before he can return to WWE as a regular TV character again. Word just came in that Flair passed those tests so he should be back on TV soon.

For Flair, this is excellent news—both from a personal and professional perspective.

An in-ring career spanning almost 40 years, not to mention an exuberant lifestyle and myriad controversies, would understandably take their toll on any man’s body. For the Nature Boy to be deemed in good health is certainly a welcome development.

But what does this mean for WWE?

First of all, there are (thankfully) no plans for him to wrestle. To do so would be an injustice both to Flair’s legacy and WWE itself—as well as pose an enormous health risk.

The resultant prospect of Flair in a more permanent managerial role presents a number of exciting possibilities, one of which involves the recently turned Seth Rollins.

With Rollins now aligned with Triple H and Randy Orton, it would be easy to fit Flair into some form of Evolution 2.0. Sure, he may have endorsed The Shield a few weeks back, but what if Rollins was the basis for that praise?

Then again, such a pairing may not be necessary with Rollins already on a roll.

Besides, there are plenty of other guys in far greater need of the boost that Flair’s presence could provide—other guys such as The Miz.

It’s been widely reported that WWE is planning on reviving the Flair-Miz partnership despite the Nature Boy’s desire to work with Dolph Ziggler.

Personally, I think it would be good to see The Miz better utilised, but at the same time it would be a shame for the company to revert back to the tried and tested instead of looking to instigate something new.

Either way, though, such an alignment would no doubt be good news for the depth of both the roster and the main event scene.

Of course, there remains the possibility of simply keeping Flair by his aforementioned daughter’s side. This would arguably be the most logical storyline, but it may not be feasible at the present time.

With Charlotte winning the NXT Women’s title so very recently, it appears unlikely that she’ll be making the jump to the full roster so soon. And given his abundant star power, it seems equally unlikely that the company will keep Flair restricted to its developmental territory.

Photo courtesy of WWE.com

If Flair stays around, though, a familial partnership could be a great storyline to save for later down the line.

But what do you guys make of this? And how do you think Flair should be used should he make his expected return to WWE television?

Please feel free to comment below with your opinions on this one, and let me know your thoughts on any of the points discussed in the article.